Last night, during a 60 minutes interview, Bush used the word “succeed” again when there has never been a true definition of “success” in Iraq presented by Rebuplicans or Democrats. Is it defined as a stable Iraq? Clearly there won’t be a Wal-Mart ribbon cutting ceremony in downtown Baghdad any time soon. So at this point what exactly is our mission? Too keep Sunni’s and Shia from killing each other? This is something they’ve wanted to do for hundreds of years and we removed the only thing stopping it: A “strong man” who basically said if there’s any killing that’s gonna be done in these parts, I’m the one who’s gonna be a doin’ it. Anyone with any knowledge of the middle east could have predicted this outcome. Many did and their warnings were ignored.
So now we stand in the middle and try to break up the fight using the lives of Americans and tax payer dollars. If we stay 100 years the minute we leave these people will try to kill each other. They are driven by religious, sectarian ideologies we cannot deter. Neither Republicans or Democrats want to present their idea as anything but the path to stability. When will it be admitted that we cannot “give” freedom and stability? We might as well get out of the way and let them settle it. As for those who argue this course would jeopardize western security I would like to ask how? How will it put us in harms way to call our troops back for national defense (novel idea) and let the Sunnis and Shia have it out? Tragic, yes. Our problem? – I don’t see it that way.
I feel like President Bush is trying to play God and keep tragedy from happening. Yes, it is tragic that the Sunni’s and Shia can’t get along and want nothing more than to get rid of each other but we should not be the people to stand in the way of something that is going to happen no matter what. We will never succeed in stopping a war that has been going on forever so why try to stop the craziness these people live in….
So here we stand in between a rock and a hard place. If we stay, we continue to lose American lives, probably more that would have ever been lost if Iraq had used their “weapons of mass destruction” that have never been found. We should have let sleeping dogs lie. We cannot force democracy on anyone, nor should we have ever tried. Maybe this will be lesson learned, but I doubt it. Politicians are too busy with their own agendas to consider a larger vision.